Bartzokas on match night: ‘They say it’s nice to be at Olympiakos but it has demands and stress’

Olympiakos won the Greek Cup after eleven years. George Bartzokas’ team defeated Panathinaikos OPAP (81-73) in the final of the Final Four in “Dyo Aorakia”.

The coach of the red and white, George Bartzokas, spoke to Game Night about the final of the cup, about the regular procedure, but also about the shine that such a trophy has achieved.

Bartzokas’ statements in detail:

For Dorsey: “Because he could have been fresh in the last 20 minutes. The fives are and how they fit together. I wanted to open up the squad, it came out after we won. It’s the momentum of the game. It’s also a matter of instinct .”

Who is the MVP: “I won’t choose, my position is always difficult, I have to support all the players. The five that finished the game played a disastrous defense. Panathinaikos scored consistently, made difficult shots, had less pressure than us. We needed a defensive five because Panathinaikos also scored in the first ten minutes. And we changed tactics on defense. The decisions of the moment often play a role, Vezenkov’s tip, Dorsey’s three-pointer play a role, all of that is crucial. We couldn’t have scored Panathinaikos if it had scored more.”

When this team is no longer under pressure: “There’s always pressure from the favourites, especially in a single game. It’s definitely the approach to a single game, for that and in the cup there are surprises. I’m not saying it would be a surprise if Panathinaikos won.” “Panathinaikos is a quality team. Basically what happened in the first half, they shot hard and put us under pressure, we stayed calm. I told them that Panathinaikos can’t shoot with such quality to be close to the goal to stay and we with ours.” Quality and our tactics to get lucky in the game”.

Change tactics in defense: “We changed different defenses depending on what the opponent did. All of Nedovic’s shots were marked, Nedovic played good defense in Wokap. Nedovic is crucial to Panathinaikos’ victories. I feel like he’s under pressure advised, they had to scoop.”

For the tournament when the trophy shines: Although I’ve read to fail that it wasn’t a crowded stadium, I have a feeling that if the slogan on the t-shirt read “It’s not a war, it’s a celebration”, it was. The referees were very good and the team benches to be a high level of those participating. If this is the case, the trophy automatically gets a different shine. Back in the day when the two teams were fatal in the Euroleague’s Fina Four, the trophy didn’t matter that much – just play by the rules and stay true to them.”

Returning from absence and when there is relief: “They say it’s nice to be at Olympiakos but it has demands and stress, today it was a relief. In Greece we know that games like this are more important than anything else here in Greece. Yes, they are life and death, but there is continuity with existing losses.΄